Macbook Graphics Lag

[thanners]

Try elevating the MacBook and blow a fan over it to ensure the unit stays cool. If you have notebook cooler pad use that.

I have been working on a MacBook with high load which was getting extremely hot and suffered slow and choppy graphics lag. Putting it on a notebook cooler instantly fixed the problem. This MacBook was received today and the stock RAM had thermal paste smeared all over the pin interface I believe that the GPU is getting too hot, so it throttles to try and reduce heat, resulting in slow graphics.

 

[mikecbay]

ive since downloaded the latest flash player and now i experience no lag when viewing flash-intensive websites. try downloading the latest universal binary flash player, it should fix the problem.

i still get choppy graphics when my macbook heats up above 70 degrees C (while using photoshop and flash).

 

[expergo]

ah...i'm experiencing this lag as well. i just bought my macbook a few days ago. im' using coreduotemp to monitor levels but anytime it gets over ~60degrees Celsius, it'll lag. and by lag..i mena when i use expose or dashboard it'll be like 3fps. is this a common problem?

it's not hard ot get it that hot..i'm just running safari/ichat/mail/adium. that's all. my ibook breezes through those things with expose and stuff. should i get it replaced? i'm pretty sure i can get the applestore to do that but tehre's no point if this is a common problem.

 

[expergo]

oh gosh...this hasn't happened for awhile. but it's happening again. i have a 1.83ghz with 2gb ram and graphics are lagging. only mail and safari are opened. what the heck..

 

[whooleytoo]

Isn't it like 80MB?

According to Apple, it's 80MB+ (though I believe 16MB is some kind of overhead, i.e. not available as RAM or VRAM), it varies according to usage.

 

[Macfanatic867]

My Black Macbook with 2gb of RAM does this exact same thing. Lag's strangely during games, and then suddenly the game is speeding along. Then two seconds later it's Choppier than all get out. What can be done to solve this?

 

[expergo]

Argh. This is getting more annoying as time goes on.

I switched laptops with my gf (cause she was having probs with her Macbook) and it was fine. She doesn't do anything that intensive so her Macbook (my old one) doesn't get too hot where the graphics lag. But recently, when we run iChat video session, it starts to drop frames where she can't even use the computer and I can hear her fan going on full blast. I know I should bring it to the Applestore (will this week) but it's hard to not be without a laptop during school time. Anyways, this is not a common problem. The laptop that lags when it gets too hot has 2gb of ram. The other Macbook we have together only has 1.25gb of ram and the graphics never lag.

 

[MRU]

It seems to a problem with 2gb. I'm in exactly the same situation.

With 2gb in my black macbook it's not long before it starts to lag.
Now I'm on 1.5 and its perfect. Go back to 2gb - same problem. It's just weird.

We got a white macbook for the studio the other day and put in 2gb and it's perfect.


So it is a problem.

 

[expergo]

Oh. Did you get it replaced?

I think they have to replace/repair it if it's clearly lagging while no other macbooks are, right?

Another issue that I get on both Macbooks, is whenever I restart, the volume moves back to the middle position. Every single time.

 

[MRU]

Nah I just keep 1.5gb in there and it seems ok - I was hoping a firmware update might sort it out, but I guess not.

I have applecare anyway - so whenever it really bugs me out I'll get it sorted then, at the moment 1.5gb in this machine is fine (it's only really used for surfing the web and listening to iTunes)

It's been on all day and page ins/outse in activity monitor reads 40820/0 so i obviously have enough ram for the machine at the mo.

 

[expergo]

Update.

I upgraded to 2gb on the Macbook I'm on now and the exact same problem.

Is anyone else experiencing this? It's really annoying, it's unusable when the graphics slows down to like 2fps.

What could the problem be? With each stick by itself it works fine.

 

[MRU]

Update.

I upgraded to 2gb on the Macbook I'm on now and the exact same problem.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

Err reaf the posts yes we have experienced this. only solution i found was to drop from 2gb down to 1.5 and it works flawlessley.

I also dont think it has anything to do with heat, as my macbook is no hotter with 2gb as it is with 1.5gb - and I have ran SMC fan control on full blast with 2gb (cpu reporting 35c) and it still happened.

It must be some logic board issue, I cant think of any other reason why. It's not dual channel problem, as its fine with 2x256 or 2x512 so why be a bollox with 2x1gb ? Just plain weird. I'll wait till someone else gets a solution before i send it back to apple.

 

[expergo]

Oh yah. haha...I don't know why I asked that again. Maybe for reassurance.

Anyways...I have an appt at the applestore in an hour, so hopefully they can find a fix.

Maybe it's the type of ram? I duno. Should I bring in my stock Ram in case?

 

[MRU]

I'd say no. They should have ram there - plus it gives them an easy excuse to just blame your ram.

 

[expergo]

I brought it in. The appleguy kept on saying it was probably the third-party ram. Anyways, they said they'll replace the logic board and hopefully that fixes it.

 

[Macfanatic867]

Expergo Make sure to let us know if the new logic board solves the problem.

 

[expergo]

Will do!

My gf's MB has the same problem and they said they would replace hers too when I bring it in.

BTW...my MB's were week 31 and 30.

 

[FleurDuMal]

I only get video lag when I have it connected to my 24" Dell. The lag whilst using Expose is really quite noticable, but apart from that it's fine (unless I"m using Handbrake at the same time, in which case the lag applies to nearly everything - but thats understandable).

 

[expergo]

Update. Dropped it off at the Applestore yesterday, was ready today. Just picked it up. I pushed it really hard until the fan turned on. No graphics lag anymore.......for now.

Edit: Been using it today as well and no lag whatsoever.

 

[Macfanatic867]

So then a logic board replacement might work. Interesting. I'll have to think about getting this done when I have the chance. How long did it take to be replaced?

 

[expergo]

1 day.

I got another one replaced as well there's no lag on it anymore.

 

[robpiano]

MacBook Graphics Lag

OK, here's the deal. I received a brand new Macbook and the thing was really jumpy -- drag a window from side to side and it would jump half an inch, same deal with scrolling windows up and down in Safari, and typing into Mail or TextEdit was lagging as well.

Called Apple -- I'm an Apple business agent so I get really good tech support right off the bat -- gentleman told me to wipe the disc, zero all data option in disk utility from the install disk -- and reinstall the mac. I did this and as Steve Jobs said in one of the keynotes -- "it scrolls like butter." Works perfectly -- like a completely different computer. configuration is 1.83 Ghz with 1 GB RAM.